For anyone that has been following Curiosity Quills over the past couple of years, they’ve been in a lot of difficulties.

The first rumblings of disquiet came around their potentially punitive termination fees for contracted authors, followed shortly by complaints around publication errors, missed deadlines and poor communication.

Authors were reporting that royalties payments were coming late, sometimes by up to several months behind schedule.

Then came the accusations that the company was no longer focused on publishing and that they were distracted by the launch of “WishKnish”, a new sales platform they were developing.

All of this, of course, has been strenuously denied by Curiosity Quills.

If you want to read more about the fiasco, Victoria Strauss has been covering it in great detail over at the Writer Beware blog.

The latest nail in the coffin comes hot off the press from Locus Mag. They’re reporting that Curiosity Quills Press has (finally) admitted that they have fallen behind on paying royalties and have ceased print publishing, except for middle grade novels. The idea is to focus purely on eBooks.

Addressing the termination fees that started all the fuss, Eugene Teplitsky, co-owner of Curiosity Quills Press, says that they are now offering “no strings attached” termination of contracts for any author looking for a way out. That’s a step in the right direction, at least.

“Our goal is to not commit to promises we cannot afford to keep, and instead pick up steam gradually as sales revenue flows in, so that we are able to pay staff, royalties, and expand our team once more.”

Eugene Teplitsky

We hope that they do manage to get things back in order, there is still a need for small presses in the industry, and it would be a shame to see another fall by the wayside.